The World Meteorological Organization reported that 2023 is “almost certain to be the warmest year on record” after October smashed temperature highs.
The ongoing El Niño event expected at least until April 2024 is also expected to influence weather patterns and contribute to a further spike in land and ocean temperatures, it noted.
October 2023 was the warmest on record at 0.85C above the 1991-2020 average and 0.40C above the previous warmest October.
The previous warmest year on record was 2016 due to a “double whammy” of an exceptionally strong El Niño and climate change.
El Niño conditions continue to develop in the equatorial Pacific, although the anomalies remain lower than those reached at this time of the year during the developments in 1997 and 2015.
As El Niño’s impacts on global temperatures typically play out in the next year after its development, 2024 “may be even warmer,” according to WMO chief Petteri Taalas, who warned that extreme weather events will be worse in some regions.
There is no arguing with measurable facts, and it is becoming quite clear by now that our planet is definitely warming up. Based on our extensive experience with the wrath of a warmer planet, we should be bracing ourselves for the short, medium, and long term impacts, while at the same time doubling efforts to mitigate or reverse the warming that has been caused by human activities.
This year is on course to be the warmest on record, and while it may be a one-off, it should be treated as a warning for the times to come. We should know by now that as the planet gets warmer, extreme weather events are bound to follow.
Preparing our homes and communities to be more prepared and resilient will be a must, along with continuing the struggle to reduce the impact of human existence on the planet, which will be difficult but doable, especially if we are to minimize the potential destruction that future generations are likely to face because of what we have been and still are doing to the planet.*
